How to Incentivize Your Mailing List Correctly

Building a mailing list is one of the most important strategies for any affiliate marketer. This not only gives you direct access to a huge list of highly targeted leads but it also ensures that you will be able to have multiple interactions with your audience directly – thus giving you the opportunity to build up to a launch date, to raise anticipation and to create buzz.

One of the best strategies for growing a mailing list then is to create an incentive. This useually means something like a free eBook that you give away to people who sign up for your item. The idea here is that by offering something for free, you give people a reason to be willing to part with their email address.

But there is one problem – and that is that your eBook will often attract the kinds of visitors who are interested in getting something for free and not in paying for digital products. They may well get their free item and then never check another of your e-mails!

So what works as a better incentive?

One is to make the e-mails themselves the products. This might mean that you describe the mailing list as a VIP members club, or that you send out ezines and newsletters instead of just simple message. This way, the subscribers will be keen to read the e-mails you are sending and as a result will be much more likely to engage with them.

Another option is to promote a discount rather than something free. How about promoting the fact you will be giving away lots of discounted items in future? This way, you are now attracting people who have expressed a willingness to spend money on the types of things you will be promoting! This is a much easier list to convent!